Show Reports 2017 - Part 1: When Frosty Meets World's Number 16

This show season is special. Usually, shows start in March or April, but this year we decided to start the season off at a winter show. And with winter we mean a winter we haven't seen for 30 years. It is freaking cold and it was windy as well close to Vienna (like almost all the time as there are no mountains). It was not a lot of snow but it was freezing at night giving the stable management a hard time trying to keep the water lines from freezing.

One of the outdoor arenas, maybe we gonna ride in this one day?

The show took place at Magna Racino, not only a racing circuit but also home to several hundred horses. Several hundred fixed stalls make it a very comfy show facility where you do not have to carry water buckets around or have to prevent rain dripping into your box.

Hardly any stable in Austria has two arenas which is the main reason we normally do not have shows in winter. But this facility has all in all 4! No wonder that world's number 16, Jessica von Bredow-Werndl decided to come, too. Soon I realised that we were going to compete against her as well as she, her brother, as well as some of her stable riders brought several horses and entered different classes. Pretty obviously, she won most of her classes and I was just happy to be able to see her in the warm up and ride next to her. Sometimes I could even hear her helping her riders in the warm up and seeing how they work. What a great experience.

Talking about our performance, we saw some improvement in overall suppleness and roundness. Of course, there were still too many mistakes but we could improve every day. Now we have almost two months before the next show to go and I really hope that we see higher temperatures such that we can go outside and train in the big arena as I realised that I need more test training now. Here are many many pics of this special show: